The plane was supposed to make a stopover at Manas international airport.

A cargo plane attempting to land at Kyrgyzstan's main airport in thick fog crashed in a populated area Monday, authorities at the airport said, leaving at least 32 people dead.

The majority of the dead are from the nearby village of Dacha-Suu where the plane - a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul from Hong Kong via Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek - crashed at around 7.30 am local time (0130 GMT), a spokesman for the country's emergency services ministry told AFP.

Four pilots also died, the health ministry said.

According to the airport administration, the plane was supposed to make a stopover at Manas, near the capital city Bishkek, on its way from Hong Kong to Istanbul. It crashed when trying to land in poor visibility at 7:31 local time (0131 GMT).

The doomed plane damaged 15 buildings in the village, said Mukhammed Svarov, head of crisis management centre at the emergencies ministry.